Shining a Light on Palladium

Polly-Anna Ashford is a guest web writer for Analyst. She is currently a PhD student at the University of East Anglia, UK.

CyN1 chemosensor for detection of palladium

Palladium is all around us, from the catalytic converters in our cars to watches, jewellery and mobile phones. However, palladium ions can bind to DNA and proteins, leading to concerns that accumulation of the metal in human tissue may pose a health risk.

Fengling Song and Xiaojun Peng from the Dalian University of Technology, China, have developed a new near-infrared ratiometric fluorescent chemosensor for palladium. The CyN1 molecule is based on the structure of a cyanine dye and undergoes a Tsuji-Trost reaction in the presence of catalytic amounts of palladium.